Forever and Always
by TheImaginativeFox
Summary: "I'm calling about Richard Grayson," a voice said while Barbara restrained herself from blurting out the questions that popped into her head. "There's been an accident and he's been admitted to Gotham General." And just like that, she found herself at Dick's bedside. Based off of the song "Forever and Always" by Parachute. A bittersweet one-shot that I hope you enjoy!


**I wasn't sure where to put this, but I think it fits here. This is based of the song "Forever and Always" by Parachute, so this is technically my first song fic. I had fun writing it and hope you enjoy reading it :)**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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Barbara was sitting at the table, still waiting for Dick to get back. It was getting late, and he surely would've called, right? He knew that they had planned to choose which food to serve at the wedding reception today, right? Because he wouldn't forget something like that, and even if he did, that didn't explain him not picking up his phone. She decides to wait a little longer, looking out the window every now and then for any sign of Dick's car, but there never was one.

Another ten minutes went by before she pulled out her phone to call Wally; maybe he knew what was going on.

"Hello?" Wally answered on the second ring.

"Hey," Barbara greeted. "Um, do you know where Dick is?"

"Uh, no, I haven't heard from him. Why, is something wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing, it's just we had dinner reservations and he isn't home yet. I can't reach him either." Barbara explained.

"Bats probably called him in for something last minute, or maybe the BPD." Wally rationalized.

"Yeah, something probably came up and he didn't have time to tell me." Barbara tried to convince herself.

"Okay, I'll let you know if I hear anything." Wally promised.

"Thanks," she replied, and they said their goodbyes before hanging up. After that, she tried calling Alfred, and their conversation went along the same lines. Then she called Roy, but he didn't know anything either. She was just about to hack into the BPD to find something when her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Good afternoon, am I speaking to Barbara Gordon?" a voice asked.

"Yes, that's me. Is everything alright?" she asked nervously.

"I'm calling about Richard Grayson," she started, and Barbara restrained herself from blurting out the questions that popped into her head. "There's been an accident and he's been admitted to Gotham General."

"Oh my god, is he okay?" she asked, shock washing over her.

"We can tell you more once you get here," the voice said, staying calm. Then, "You should get here as soon as you can."

"I'm on my way." Barbara hangs up and gets in her car, making her way towards the Gotham General. Her mind goes into December, and she thinks about when he asked her to marry him.

Dick had asked her to go ice skating that afternoon, and so the two went to an outdoor skating rink that had been set up for the season. It was Thursday, and since students weren't on break yet, it wasn't too crowded. The rink had a Christmas tree in the middle that had been covered in gold and silver decorations. The two of them had raced around it, and Dick had shown off a few tricks, but she didn't mind, she loved it, actually. Towards the end, they had taken to skating side by side and holding hands, talking about nothing in particular until they were ready to go.

She sat down on a bench, and Dick had offered to untie her skates. Barbara watched him, neither of them saying anything; just enjoying each other's presence.

"So," Dick started once they both had their regular shoes on, "hot chocolate?"

She smiled and nodded, "You got it, Boy Wonder."

"I think I saw a stand down that way," he thought aloud, and so they headed off in that general direction, eventually stumbling upon the stand.

"Hello," Dick greeted the worker with a bright smile.

"How can I help you?" she asked.

"Two hot chocolates please," he told her, pulling out his wallet and handing her the exact amount. And soon, the two of them were walking down the sidewalk and towards their car as they sipped on their hot chocolate.

"Not as good as Alfred's," Dick commented, "but not bad."

"Mhmm," she agreed, leaning into him as they walked. "I'm glad we were able to do this."

"Yeah, it's nice to do things together outside of the night job," he agreed. As much as they both going on patrol together, getting to hang out and go on dates as Dick and Babs was nice, and as it didn't happen too often, it was like a treat.

"So, where to next?" Barbara asked. "We could go out for lunch, or if you don't have enough time for that, we could order some take out back at the apartment?"

He checked his watch, "I have time; I always have time for you." He smiled at her, and it made her smile.

"You're so cheesy," she teased as they approached the car.

"And you love me for it," he replied, kissing her on top of her head.

Not too much later, they were sitting in a restaurant, boxing up their lunches as they waited for their dessert to arrive. Dick got off his chair, and at first, Barbara thought he had just dropped something, but then he took her hand in his and looked up at her with those big, blue eyes. "Barbara, we've been connected since the day we met. I loved you before I even knew what love was. You have been the friend I can never doubt, and the partner I didn't know was possible. Whatever happens in this world, I know we can bear it if we have each other."

He pulled out a ring, "Oh my god," she breathed.

"I want that to be between us forever. I want _you_ forever; forever and always. Barbara Gordon, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she breathed, watching as he took the ring and put it on her finger. He then stood, pulling her up with him before he leaned her back in a dip and kissed her, and she kissed him back, bringing her arms around his neck. They could hear a few others in the parking lot start to clap and 'aw' as they kissed.

"Always the performer," she whispered as the kiss broke.

"And the show is just getting started," he said. "I love you, Babs."

"I love you, too, Dick," and the kiss continued.

She pulls up to the entrance as the memory fades, and parks the car before heading inside and trying to calmly walk towards the front desk.

"I'm Barbara Gordon, someone called me about Richard Grayson?" she said once she got to the front desk. A nurse came up to her, and as she started talking, Barbara recognized that this was the person she had talked with over the phone.

She led Barbara down what felt like a million halls, like a maze that was never going to end. They talked about what happened, but she could barely hear them, almost as if she were underwater. A bomb had gone off, and Dick had been caught in the debris field. They had managed to stop the bleeding, but things still weren't looking good, meaning the next few hours would be critical. Those were the things that kept going through her mind, leaving no room to hear about the tests and procedures they had done on him. Eventually they made it to their destination, and she tried to keep a straight face as she walked into the room.

Bruce and Alfred were already there, sitting and talking with Dick, but she noticed that the two of them were doing most of the talking. She greeted them, and Bruce mentioned that he and Alfred had called Roy and Wally, and Tim was trying to reach Jason and then he would come up with Damian.

She sat down by Dick's bedside, and held his hand a little too tight. He looked up, smiling a half smile at her. He had a nasal cannula to help him breathe, and he was attached to too many machines. He was covered in bandages, some of them tinted red, and he was swollen and bruised in more places than not. She noticed a few burn marks, and part of his hair was singed, _oh Dick_. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Eh, I've had better days, and yourself?" Dick struggled to ask, trying to hide how uncomfortable he was feeling, and Barbara tried not to think about the fact that he was wheezing every so often.

"I'm," _worried_ , "okay." Then, to try to distract him, she said, "You know, we missed our reservations."

He looked confused at first, but brushed it off. "Yeah, sorry about that," he paused to regain his breath, "something came up." Then he gave a soft laugh that made him wince.

"It's okay, maybe some other time?" Barbara said, and he nodded.

"I hope you're not too hungry," he said casually. "I don't think they're letting me go anytime soon."

Food was the last thing on her mind, and so she shook her head. "Making sure you're okay is all that matters right now."

"Babs," he squeezed her hand, "I'm going to be fine. Promise. Give it a week or two, and by then we'll be ready to move boxes into our house and start putting together the new furniture."

Right now the new house was being painted, and after that, it would get new flooring. It was supposed to be ready for them to move in by next week, and they had decided to get some nicer furniture, meaning some furniture that wasn't falling apart like theirs was currently doing.

"Speaking of," she started, "I stopped by their earlier today."

"Did you?" he asked. "How are things looking?"

"It looks nice." And it really did. She couldn't wait to move out of their apartment and into their first home.

"A house on the hillside." Dick said, the idea comforting. "Our kids are going to love it. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to build a tree house in that big tree in the backyard. Maybe we'd even have room for a trampoline."

"Is that for you, or our future children?" Barbara asked, smirking.

"Trampolines are fun for _all_ ages." He said, a little defensively, but still lighthearted. "Besides, someone will have to test it for them."

"How kind of you," she rolled her eyes.

"If you're not nice to me, I won't share with you." He warned, smiling as he did.

"I think I'll take my chances." Barbara decided, patting his hand.

A few minutes later, Jason, Damian, and Tim knocked on the door, joining them. Soon after, Wally and Roy showed up. Everyone was talking, and if they weren't in a hospital, Barbara would've enjoyed herself.

At some point, Dick started staring at her hand, or more specifically, her engagement ring. He looked up at her as if he had remembered something important. "Barbara?"

"Hmm?" she asked.

"Those dinner reservations, they were to plan the food for the wedding reception, weren't they?" he asked. Barbara remembered that the nurse had said he had been confused and that it could last for a while, apparently she had been right.

Barbara nodded slowly, "But it's okay, we can reschedule." They had been planning the wedding for a few months already, and she knew it was very possible that the wedding would have to be rescheduled, or even called off. It was stupid to think about the wedding when they didn't even know if Dick would last the night. . .

Then, getting an idea, she says, "I'll be right back."

Barbara goes out into the hall and calls a nurse. She asks if they could have a chaplain come up, and soon the nurse went off to find one. Now all Barbara needed to do was find some rings. . .

.oOo.

The chaplain says a couple verses, and then the group shared a few memories about the young couple. Soon, everybody was laughing and tears were falling on the floor.

Then Barbara grips Dick's hands tighter and looks into his eyes as she says, "Dick, I want you forever; forever and always. Through the good and the bad and the ugly. I want us to grow old together, and always remember the love that brought us together in the first place. And whether happy, or sad, or whatever, we'll still love each other; forever and always."

She finishes the vows, but the beeps are getting too slow, and his voice is almost too low as he says, "Barbara, I'll love you forever, forever and always. Please just remember, even if I'm not there, I'll always love you, forever and always."

His eyes closed, and the tears Barbara had been holding back started to stream down her face. Medical personal started to surround them, pushing them out of the way. Barbara stayed quiet all while she wondered why Dick wasn't responding when they called out to him.

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 **I decided to end it where the song ended it, and I planned for Dick to end up in a coma since killing him would be too much for me. So did you like it? Was it sad enough? Did you like this type of thing? Should I do more like this? I have some other songs in mind if people like it, but if you have suggestions, that's good, too. What was your favorite part? How about the saddest and happiest part? Let me know, I love hearing from you guys :)**

 **Also, most of the proposal was from Nightwing/Oracle Convergence**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-TheImaginativeFox**

 **(I think cliffhanger's are like my signature thing now)**


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